German-pat. 29 11 825 already discloses a spring clip for elastic mounting of a rail relative to a concrete tie. The known one-piece spring clip for elastic rail mounting serves to positively and elastically anchor the rail relative to a concrete tie without using any screws, said concrete tie including fastening holes for this purpose and the spring clip being adapted to be brought into engagement with said fastening holes in the area of its shank. The known spring clip consists of a bent steel rod and is provided with a spring loop holding down the rail in the area of the rail foot. For anchoring the known spring clip, a claw is required at the lower end of the shank of said spring clip, said claw engaging positively behind a spherical holding surface. A holding surface of this type is not provided in the case of a conventional tie plate, such as the so-called "USA plate No. 8" for lumber ties. Hence, the known spherical clip is disadvantageous insofar as it can only be used in combination with spherical holding surfaces, whereas it cannot be used in the case of conventional tie plates, especially on lumber ties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4349151 reveals an elastic fastening arrangement, which consists of two separate components and which includes a bow-shaped component as well as a spring for holding down the rail foot, said spring being in engagement with the bow-shaped component, which is, in turn, in engagement with the underside of a base part or of a tie plate. The known fastening arrangement for rails includes a noselike projection, which is provided on the bow and which engages the underside of the tie plate in the area of the associated fastening hole. However, multipart fastening arrangements are not only comparatively complicated to produce but they also require comparatively complicated work when the rail fastening means are mounted.
U.S. Pat. No. 2 387 009 discloses an elastic fastening arrangement for fastening a rail relative to a base part or a tie plate. The known fastening arrangement comprises a screw body having at the lower end thereof a noselike projection, which engages the underside of the base part in the area of a fastening hole through which the screw body extends. The upper side of the screw body is provided with a nut, which is adapted to be used for pressing down a spring plate resting on the tie plate on the one hand and on the rail foot on the other for guaranteeing thus elastic fastening of the rail foot. However, the known fastening arrangement requires a screwing operation for elastically securing the rail in position, and this type of operation must be regarded as being undesirable.